Amended referendum law to take effect after new President’s inauguration – CEC chairman

The legislative reform allowing citizens to initiate a referendum at their own free choice will take effect only after the new President’s inauguration in 2018, the Central Electoral Commission’s (CEC) president said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, Tigran Mukuchyan insisted on the unconstitutionality of Paruyr Hayrikyan’s call for initiating a public petition to enact changes in the 2015 constitutional amendments.

The leader of the National Self-Determination Union declared an open-ended hunger-strike outside the CEC on Monday morning with a demand for launching a signature campaign to make the said changes possible.

“It clearly states that the legal provisions enshrined in Article 15 (which outlines also procedures for conducting a referendum) enter into effect after the president is sworn into office. Up until that date, the provisions laid out in the 2005 Constitution are effective,” he said, noting that any changes under the current legislation require prior consent by the President or the National Assembly.

Mukuchyan added that their response to Hayrikyan was “in line with the appeal filed with the CEC”.

“When we have the law in place, we will have also the entire implementation mechanism to allow every person wishing to exercise that constitutional right to act correspondingly,” he noted.